30,049 research outputs found
Two Modes of Solid State Nucleation - Ferrites, Martensites and Isothermal Transformation Curves
When a crystalline solid such as iron is cooled across a structural
transition, its final microstructure depends sensitively on the cooling rate.
For instance, an adiabatic cooling across the transition results in an
equilibrium `ferrite', while a rapid cooling gives rise to a metastable twinned
`martensite'. There exists no theoretical framework to understand the dynamics
and conditions under which both these microstructures obtain. Existing theories
of martensite dynamics describe this transformation in terms of elastic strain,
without any explanation for the occurence of the ferrite. Here we provide
evidence for the crucial role played by non-elastic variables, {\it viz.},
dynamically generated interfacial defects. A molecular dynamics (MD) simulation
of a model 2-dimensional (2d) solid-state transformation reveals two distinct
modes of nucleation depending on the temperature of quench. At high
temperatures, defects generated at the nucleation front relax quickly giving
rise to an isotropically growing `ferrite'. At low temperatures, the defects
relax extremely slowly, forcing a coordinated motion of atoms along specific
directions. This results in a twinned critical nucleus which grows rapidly at
speeds comparable to that of sound. Based on our MD results, we propose a
solid-state nucleation theory involving the elastic strain and non-elastic
defects, which successfully describes the transformation to both a ferrite and
a martensite. Our work provides useful insights on how to formulate a general
dynamics of solid state transformations.Comment: 3 pages, 4 B/W + 2 color figure
Some experiences with the viscous-inviscid interaction approach
Methods for simulating compressible viscous flow using the viscid-inviscid interaction approach are described. The formulations presented range from the more familiar full-potential/boundary-layer interaction schemes to a method for coupling Euler/Navier-Stokes and boundary-layer algorithms. An effort is made to describe the advantages and disadvantages of each formulation. Sample results are presented which illustrate the applicability of the methods
Entanglement enhanced atomic gyroscope
The advent of increasingly precise gyroscopes has played a key role in the
technological development of navigation systems. Ring-laser and fibre-optic
gyroscopes, for example, are widely used in modern inertial guidance systems
and rely on the interference of unentangled photons to measure mechanical
rotation. The sensitivity of these devices scales with the number of particles
used as . Here we demonstrate how, by using sources of entangled
particles, it is possible to do better and even achieve the ultimate limit
allowed by quantum mechanics where the precision scales as 1/N. We propose a
gyroscope scheme that uses ultra-cold atoms trapped in an optical ring
potential.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figure
Multiphonon Raman Scattering in Graphene
We report multiphonon Raman scattering in graphene samples. Higher order
combination modes involving 3 phonons and 4 phonons are observed in
single-layer (SLG), bi-layer (BLG), and few layer (FLG) graphene samples
prepared by mechanical exfoliation. The intensity of the higher order phonon
modes (relative to the G peak) is highest in SLG and decreases with increasing
layers. In addition, all higher order modes are observed to upshift in
frequency almost linearly with increasing graphene layers, betraying the
underlying interlayer van der Waals interactions.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Thickness dependent magnetotransport in ultra-thin manganite films
To understand the near-interface magnetism in manganites, uniform, ultra-thin
films of La_{0.67}Sr_{0.33}MnO_3 were grown epitaxially on single crystal (001)
LaAlO_3 and (110) NdGaO_3 substrates. The temperature and magnetic field
dependent film resistance is used to probe the film's structural and magnetic
properties. A surface and/or interface related dead-layer is inferred from the
thickness dependent resistance and magnetoresistance. The total thickness of
the dead layer is estimated to be for films on NdGaO_3 and for films on LaAlO_3.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
Offset fields in perpendicularly magnetized tunnel junctions
We study the offset fields affecting the free layer of perpendicularly
magnetized tunnel junctions. In extended films, the free layer offset field
results from interlayer exchange coupling with the reference layer through the
MgO tunnel oxide. The free layer offset field is thus accompanied with a shift
of the free layer and reference layer ferromagnetic resonance frequencies. The
shifts depend on the mutual orientation of the two magnetizations. The offset
field decreases with the resistance area product of the tunnel oxide.
Patterning the tunnel junction into an STT-MRAM disk-shaped cell changes
substantially the offset field, as the reduction of the lateral dimension comes
with the generation of stray fields by the reference and the hard layer. The
experimental offset field compares best with the spatial average of the sum of
these stray fields, thereby providing guidelines for the offset field
engineering.Comment: Special issue of J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys (2019) on STT-MRA
Quasi-infra-red fixed points and renormalisation group invariant trajectories for non-holomorphic soft supersymmetry breaking
In the MSSM the quasi-infra-red fixed point for the top-quark Yukawa coupling
gives rise to specific predictions for the soft-breaking parameters. We discuss
the extent to which these predictions are modified by the introduction of
additional ``non-holomorphic'' soft-breaking terms. We also show that in a
specific class of theories there exists an RG-invariant trajectory for the
``non-holomorphic'' terms, which can be understood using a holomorphic spurion
term.Comment: 24 pages, TeX, two figures. Uses Harvmac (big) and epsf. Minor errors
corrected, and the RG trajectory explained in terms of a holomorphic spurion
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